Rose Scented Candles
by Sally6
Summary: Harry and Hermione decide to lose their virginity. Fluffiness ensues. Standalone.


Harry and Hermione decide to lose their virginity. Fluffiness ensues. Standalone.  
  
*Disclaimer: both Harry and Hermione belong to JK Rowling, not me. Lucky for them, really.  
  
**Author's Note: I would like to take this opportunity to thank those who have reviewed A Pirates Life For Me, although they probably won't be reading this, the response was amazing, thankyou. Apologies for the following, I was feeling quite sappy today.  
  
Rose Scented Candles.  
  
The whole idea was ridiculous really. I mean, what difference does it make whether we 'do it' or not? Obviously, I'm just kidding myself. Of course it makes a difference, everyone is doing it, and then dissecting everything about it afterwards, and then asking me about it. And what can I say? Nothing. Sometimes I just shrug mysteriously, but mostly I just huff and act all superior. I don't think anyone is convinced though. I mean, they know about Victor and I breaking up last year and I think they suspect we did *something* but nobody believes that Hermione Granger, class swot, has actually gone and lost her virginity.  
  
So that's how it came about. One day Harry just looked at me over Lavender's head and we just knew that drastic action had to be taken.  
  
Harry hadn't been able to have a girlfriend while Voldemort was still around; I mean he just couldn't could he? And now that he's gone and we're seventh years, all the girls are expecting him to be amazingly experienced in bed, like fame does that to you. I don't pretend to understand the girls in our year any more than he does. He just wants to be normal like every other boy, he thinks that finally having sex will get him back in the lads' good books, afterall talking Quidditch is a bit blasé now.  
  
Me? Well, I always wanted to fit in, be one of the girls, but now I realise that that can never happen. We just don't have anything in common; I want so much more from life that just an attractive husband and hundreds of children. No, the reason I want to do it is to prove to myself that I can. I feel like a failure to my body, and I want to know that if I put my mind to it, I can do it.  
  
A few days after he looked at me, we met up in the common room after everyone else was asleep. Harry had tried to chat some girls up in the past, but by now most people had paired off, and those that hadn't Harry was either too nervous to approach or very anxious to avoid.  
  
There was no one in our year for me. I tried looking in Ravenclaw House but the boys there are only interested in their books, the Hufflepuffs are too clumsy to trust with something so important and Slytherin was a definite no-go. Even if Malfoy has dyed that ridiculous hair of his, it was too risky, especially with that old pervert Snape hanging around the place.  
  
Harry gave me a small smile, but all I could feel was a heavy weight settling in my stomach. Hermione Granger, died a picky virgin spinster.  
  
I hugged my knees. Harry fiddled with the hem of his dressing gown for a while.  
  
He said something then. Looked me straight in the eye and said, 'Hermione, why are we spending our time looking for people who don't exist when we have each other?' I frowned; he didn't have feelings for me did he? Not after all that stuff with Ron, surely? 'I mean, if we did it as friends it would be better wouldn't it?' He was rushing now, the words tumbling out of his mouth. 'I mean, we wouldn't have to feel embarrassed if we got it wrong, there wouldn't be any long-term stuff, or messy expectations, it could just stay between us and when we do find that person, we'll be ready. Sorry, it was a stupid idea, I guess I'm just getting desperate, you know, I mean its almost the end of term, and I still haven't, I mean, we - ' I cut him off. It seemed so obvious, what a perfect solution. We had been through so much together so far, why not this as well? After all it was just a physical thing, nothing heavy.  
  
I said yes.  
  
We set a date. Thursday, 10pm, Harry's room. Just four days away.  
  
So there you go. That's how I find myself standing just outside his door wearing some ridiculous lingerie under my dressing gown and more makeup than I ever have in my life in the vain hope of making it a bit easier for Harry. I knock.  
  
Straightaway he answers. I stand nervously for a moment and he backs away to let me in before checking the corridor and locking the door behind us with a deafening 'Click', which seems to echo around the tower, informing everyone of our plan.  
  
The room was dark, his Head Boy curtains drawn against prying eyes, but for the flickering of several brick-like candles dotted on his shelves and desk. The smell of warm, rose-scented wax assaulted my senses making feel as though I had walked onto the wrong set in film. Harry tugged at his dressing gown, and finally prying the belt undone, he hung it on the back of his door. I did the same and we settled next to each other on the bed.  
  
He had done his best to make it easier for me. I noticed that the hair he was running his hands through was clean and that he had placed two bottles of Fire Whiskey on his bedside table as well as having his sheets freshly laundered. I spotted that he was trying not to notice my pale cream lace brassier and I shifted slightly where I sat.  
  
"I wanted to make it special, you know, for the first time, I hope you don't mind all the...you know."  
  
"No, um, its nice, thanks."  
  
"Maybe we should.....?"  
  
"What, now?"  
  
"Well, I mean, if you want we could...?"  
  
"Maybe we should kiss first...?."  
  
"Yeah, yeah, we should..."  
  
He turned to me and we bobbed our heads around each other for a moment before we both decided to close out eyes, and perhaps from nerves or inexperience, we knocked our skulls together. Sharp pain rushed down my neck, Harry winced back and rubbed at his scalp. I blushed furiously.  
  
"Sorry...I don't really know..."  
  
"Hermione, I don't think -"  
  
"You're right, it isn't is it?"  
  
"It's not that I don't, you know, it's just that, well..."  
  
"No, I know what you mean."  
  
"Thanks." He laughed nervously. I smiled at him and somehow the air became less heavy after we both put our dressing gowns back on and we let ourselves slouch against his headboard.  
  
"We're such idiots." He handed me some whiskey in a plastic beaker and took a sip from the bottle.  
  
"Yeah, I know. We could have really ruined things between us."  
  
"Blimey, yeah."  
  
"I think I'll just wait for the right person, you know."  
  
"Yeah, me too. I mean, what difference does it make, so long as you always have people you can trust, you know, and talk to."  
  
"Yeah." I smiled at him. "Thanks Harry."  
  
"For what?"  
  
"Just being a friend, you know."  
  
"You too, Hermione."  
  
He reached across then, and brushed a stray curl from out of my eyes as I sat looking into my glass. His touch sent shivers down my spine, so I turned and looked up at him. There was a strange look in his eyes.  
  
We sat there, eyes unfocussed slightly, seeing each other, I mean really seeing each other, and before I knew it my lips had parted slightly of their own accord and I was leaning in. Or was he leaning in to me? And his mouth tasted like rose scented soap and chicken and my eyes were closed against his, and his chest was warm against mine, and suddenly I realised that I had already found the right person. 


End file.
